A MURMURATION OF INDIVIDUALS: "Moving As One while Honouring Uniqueness"

Conscious Tribes are places where we learn to move As One -

while simultaneously honouring our unique individualities.

IMO

(In My Opinion)

The Revolution of The Heart requires we form Tribes.

But let´s not be superficial or sentimental:

just because lots of us know each other, or like each other,

or share similar values,

doesn´t mean we´re a Tribe.

IMO, we only really become a Tribe

when we begin to move as One Mind.

One Mind Murmuration

IMO the Murmurations of Starlings (some of almost a million birds, apparently!) are superb examples of individual creatures moving in perfect sychrony without a leader.

I would call this leaderless-synchrony a state of One Mind.

According to scientists who have studied the phenomenon, each Starling is especially aware of the seven Starlings closest to it.

I consider this extremely important – because, to me, it infers that each Starling is still very much aware of its own individuality – at the same time as it is in perfect synchrony with the total murmuration.

I think many of us have felt this state of One Mind on the dance floor (with or without having taken Ecstasy) – as well as, of course, in all sorts of other situations - but few of us sustain the feeling.

Large-Scale False Murmuration

As far as I know, no human civilisation has achieved One Mind leaderless-sychrony – although, IMO, many have achieved (and still achieve) large-scale false-sychrony.

IMO, this is achieved by imposing beliefs, and enforcing obedience to those beliefs. It then looks as if a society is a Murmuration – because everyone is following the same calendar, or following the same fashion, or performing the same religious rituals – but it is not. It is more like a marching army than an ecstatic dancefloor.

IMO, imposed belief and obedience give us a sense of feeling we know what life and death are all about, a sense of feeling we know where we are in the universe - and a sense of togetherness.

Unfortunately, IMO – it´s all lies! Our beliefs about The Truth are actually based on limited, fallible sense-perception/mental argument/spiritual illuminations – and are just masquerading as all-encompassing, infallible, existential certainty. The laws that then stem from these Truth-Lies are in reality completely arbitrary - and the togetherness these Great Truth-Lies offer, illusory.

IMO, nobody knows for sure that Jesus is the Son of God. That´s why it´s called a faith. Nobody knows for sure that Mohammed was the Last Prophet. That´s why it´s called a faith. And nobody knows for sure that that which cannot be perceived does not exist. Which is why Science is also a faith.

IMO this is the most humble, beautiful, naked, vulnerable, human truth of truths.

IMO nobody can be certain. Or to put it Socratically – the only thing we can be certain of is that we can´t be certain.

Can I be certain of this? Of course not! It is my faith!

It is my faith that it is not in our nature to be certain.

Just as it is not in our nature to fly.

Just as it is not in our nature to calculate faster than A.I.

Just as it IS in our nature to love our children.

Just as it IS in our nature to wonder why.

Is Large-Scale Human Murmuration Possible?

So returning to murmurations – my question is this: is large-scale leaderless-synchrony humanly possible? Can we turn away from our lies, our false certainties, our fake cosmic security, our comfortable obedience – and turn towards honesty and equality, and the natural, inalienable togetherness that, IMO, already unites us - whether we like it or not!

IMO, Humanity is potentially a symphonic Murmuration - but because we are afraid we have turned it into a dull procession. IMO humanity is innately wild and free, but we have turned the Murmuration of the Generations into a pompous, tedious, military march.

Perhaps leaderless-synchrony hasn´t been possible, so far. But could it be? And if ever it was needed – might it be now? And if so, how would you and I need to change? What qualities would we need to develop – in order to be able to co-create, little by little, a One Mind Civilisation – Humanity As Murmuration - a harmonious, infinitely-creative, leaderless culture on Earth?

And if we can say “these are the qualities we would need to develop” to succeed in this unprecedented, mega-endeavour – what are the first “baby steps” we would need to take? Can we create small communities where we can cultivate the qualities we need?

And, as you´ll no doubt have guessed from the subtitle of this essay (“Conscious Tribes are places where we learn to move As One - while simultaneously honouring our unique individualities”) - my answer is “yes, that´s the whole idea of Conscious Tribes!”

The Conscious Tribe – Microcosm Murmuration

So how would it work? What specific qualities would the people in a Conscious Tribe be cultivating?

To start with, IMO, the first issue would need to be honesty. People would need to admit they have faiths, not certainties – and that, therefore, we stand in equality – each with their perhaps-correct, perhaps-incorrect, unproveable faith - before The Great Mystery of Existence.

And it might feel frightening to stand beneath the sky stripped of all certainties. It might feel frightening to stand Naked in the Unknown. So IMO it´s not going to be just an intellectual affair. The people in the Conscious Tribe are going to have to support each other psycho-emotionally. They are going to need to learn to manage that fear.

How? How do we manage our fear? IMO – by being more and more and more honest! By facing our unique, individual experience of the moment more and more head-on, more and more completely. Then – in my own experience, in my experience of supporting others, and IMO – we meet the magical beauty, the sacred timelessness, the mystical intelligence, and the happiness of the heart that is our birthright – our innate experience of being ourselves.

IMO, interferences will come as we learn to stay honestly-present – self-judgements, judgements of others, grief, shame, unresolved traumas... I am not saying that traveling together, and learning together, as a Conscious Tribe will be easy. But IMO, as we learn to stay honestly-present to our own experience of the moment, and relate to each other in that honesty – we return from the military march to the Murmuration. We return from the dull security of false-certainties to the vulnerable aliveness of the uncertain moment. The Conscious Tribe becomes the microcosm of the leaderless-synchrony we seek to see writ-large. And perhaps with enough microcosms we can create a macrocosm!

The Conscious Tribe - Living Together in Murmuration

On many, many occasions I have heard people say “I have lots of friends, and we share values in common – we´re already in Murmuration, we´re already a Conscious Tribe!” But when I have spent some time with them I have almost always replied “IMO – you´re not!” I don´t mean they don´t love each other, or that they don´t offer each other support – I mean that I see a world of difference between getting the military march to slow down a bit - and becoming a Murmuration.

To become a Murmuration people need to be flying together. They need to be intimately interwoven in each other lives – like the Starlings who are especially aware of the seven other Starlings flying closest to them. And everyone needs to be beyond belief! To be a Conscious Tribe everyone needs to be on the edge of the moment – ready to change direction in an instant: in The Unknown – together. IMO if you do not all have a sense of being united on an intense, exciting, shared adventure together – you are not yet a Conscious Tribe!

My intention in saying this is not to discourage anyone. I just want to be clear. I want to turn the IMO-violent, deceitful, dominating culture around. But IMO, if we and our friends (our would-be Tribe) are not living as One Mind, then we are not yet fully embodying the alternative.

I don´t believe that we can turn the military march of dogma and obedience around by legal or political or even ecological adjustments. IMO, the fake Murmuration is too well entrenched. It has a momentum of its own. And, above all, it is held in place by our unacknowledged fear.

IMO The Revolution (the turning things around) can only happen if some people face their fear – face The Great Mystery – and give up certainty, and embrace their not-knowing, and open to the IMO-undefinable moment – and learn to stay there, and learn to relate from there – and let others see that it is so much more fun to dance naked than to march in heavy uniforms!

And this, I believe, is work that can only happen among small, intimate groups of trusting friends. Yes, these Conscious Tribes can then unite. But rather than trying to “change the world” all at once – IMO, we first need to form small, qualitatively-different units of change...

Then perhaps pleasure will win the day – and humanity can become the Glorious Murmuration that IMO it holds the potential to be! Earthlings as joyous as Starlings!

*

Mark Josephs,

"Mark the Mystic Activist",

Aragon, Spain,

Summer 2025

Mark initiated and now helps guide The Conscious Tribes Project.

His articles, stories and poems attempt to convey not only the concept of Conscious Tribes,

but the feeling behind them.

www.tribusconscientes.com

THE CONSCIOUS TRIBES PROJECT

Reinventing The Extended Family